Neither produces a strong preference for me. I'll note that the two line version of the title shows the J lining up with the sun and that is, very slightly, more appealing to me. It seems to lead the eye toward the center of the image.
Cover final copy to view.
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See page 2:
The final update for this tread at end of page 2. UPDATED 15 April 2015.
Final copy to view.
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Many thanks to all of you. And your opinions are welcome.
_________________________________________
This is the cover I have for my SF Thriller (a new series titled Erelong). I think the designer did beautiful work here but I'm about to lock it in and find myself wondering about possible changes to lift it that bit more.
This is all about the titles. Which of these two is best?
If neither versions please you then is there a tweak you could suggest to improve the titles?
Maybe the relative size of the titles in each, or the title style or colour? A splash of red in the main title perhaps? (It would be in keeping with the story content)
For me a possible issue may be title placement.
I would hate to find a simple relocation on the cover would have given it just that more impact.
Call it version [A]
Call it version [B ]
Thank you to all who reply in advance.
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Another vote for the second one.
Also, can't stop thinking how this could look with some more contrast, a bit more punch. You could darken the sky more, maybe change the title color to white, and even still increase its size a little. The cover doesn't exactly look SF thriller to me just yet. Another thing is the lake, how would it look if you'd drop one of the texts down there (author name, A SF Thriller -text etc?
Also, can't stop thinking how this could look with some more contrast, a bit more punch. You could darken the sky more, maybe change the title color to white, and even still increase its size a little. The cover doesn't exactly look SF thriller to me just yet. Another thing is the lake, how would it look if you'd drop one of the texts down there (author name, A SF Thriller -text etc?
Thanks everyone.
This was a pre made cover. So I don't know what I can ask for from the designer. I am willing to pay for changes of course.
Could you tell me what kind of font would carry this to you? Better still a link to a book with the kind of font you think I should be looking at? I PM'd you.
I was thinking also of a red reflected light in the 'Jubilee Year', not all of it just one portion. I wonder whether that would lift things to another level.
If anyone knows of a kind of font that would look better could you send a link (from Amazon etc) of any example book cover?
This was a pre made cover. So I don't know what I can ask for from the designer. I am willing to pay for changes of course.
Yes. It should 'scream' both Sci-Fi and thriller. But then again the story is set on planet Earth, before, during, and after great change... So we're talking dystopia / post apocalypse (of a sort).T.J. Lantz said:
Could you tell me what kind of font would carry this to you? Better still a link to a book with the kind of font you think I should be looking at? I PM'd you.
Hmmm. Dropping the 'Sci Fi thriller' title down there, or the Erelong down on the lake seems a good idea.Hasse Mori said:Also, can't stop thinking how this could look with some more contrast, a bit more punch. You could darken the sky more, maybe change the title color to white, and even still increase its size a little. The cover doesn't exactly look SF thriller to me just yet. Another thing is the lake, how would it look if you'd drop one of the texts down there (author name, A SF Thriller -text etc?
I was thinking also of a red reflected light in the 'Jubilee Year', not all of it just one portion. I wonder whether that would lift things to another level.
Not a pain at all. This is what I need, a clear indication of where it works or not. I think the font change is necessary also.Matthew Stott said:
If anyone knows of a kind of font that would look better could you send a link (from Amazon etc) of any example book cover?
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In that case, I can make some quick recommendations writer-to-writer. Designers, feel free to scold and correct
The font is actually not bad for sci-fi with the right colors. If you want to keep the picture how it is and just change the font, I would suggest going for something a little tech-y and edgy. One of the examples at the bottom of the post has a similar type of font (Heavy Data). Here is a site that has a bunch of free commercial use sci-fi fonts to use that you can file through to send to the designer:
(broken link, copy/paste the whole url) : http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=303&text=Jubilee+Year&l[]=10&l[]=1
The washed out landscape you're using now is really more common to fantasy and rural slice-of-life works. If you're willing to adjust the picture, I'd first ask if the designer will help it look more sci-fi with a few filters. If not, or if the price is too much, it's really not hard to do on your own. Put the final image you get into an editor like Pixlr. High contrast/saturation is popularly used in sci-fi covers, and it may be easier for readers to associate the cover with sci-fi that way. Using a green tint is often associated with darker alien / invasion type stories (the scratch blurb makes that sound like your niche). Again, you can do this with the final image even if the typography is already on. I have some quick and easy examples of these at the bottom of the post.
Beyond the sci-fi, I personally think the cover seems kind of awkward and unbalanced. The title of the series is so far from the book title, it looks like a second author name to me. If the actual author name could be put up top, the main items brought down to the middle, and the series title put above the main one in smaller text (preferably with a colon or "book one" after to separate it), I think it would come together and bring a lot of balance to the cover. I added a quick example of this below as well. --But if it's not cost efficient to get the layout reworked, don't worry about it; it looks like a decent cover even without those edits.
Some examples of what I meant (original for comparison, then the effect versions, then an ugly font idea, then the layout idea):
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The font is actually not bad for sci-fi with the right colors. If you want to keep the picture how it is and just change the font, I would suggest going for something a little tech-y and edgy. One of the examples at the bottom of the post has a similar type of font (Heavy Data). Here is a site that has a bunch of free commercial use sci-fi fonts to use that you can file through to send to the designer:
(broken link, copy/paste the whole url) : http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=303&text=Jubilee+Year&l[]=10&l[]=1
The washed out landscape you're using now is really more common to fantasy and rural slice-of-life works. If you're willing to adjust the picture, I'd first ask if the designer will help it look more sci-fi with a few filters. If not, or if the price is too much, it's really not hard to do on your own. Put the final image you get into an editor like Pixlr. High contrast/saturation is popularly used in sci-fi covers, and it may be easier for readers to associate the cover with sci-fi that way. Using a green tint is often associated with darker alien / invasion type stories (the scratch blurb makes that sound like your niche). Again, you can do this with the final image even if the typography is already on. I have some quick and easy examples of these at the bottom of the post.
Beyond the sci-fi, I personally think the cover seems kind of awkward and unbalanced. The title of the series is so far from the book title, it looks like a second author name to me. If the actual author name could be put up top, the main items brought down to the middle, and the series title put above the main one in smaller text (preferably with a colon or "book one" after to separate it), I think it would come together and bring a lot of balance to the cover. I added a quick example of this below as well. --But if it's not cost efficient to get the layout reworked, don't worry about it; it looks like a decent cover even without those edits.
Some examples of what I meant (original for comparison, then the effect versions, then an ugly font idea, then the layout idea):
1 - 20 of 40 Posts
